The Importance of Lifting Weights for Men

Lifting weights has traditionally been an activity associated with masculinity and body-building. Over time, this notion has changed as in our modern society, we are seeing equal female participation in gyms, weight-lifting and strength training.

This is because the benefits are becoming more and more apparent, as we begin to embark on greater challenges as an ever-evolving race. As such, we are discarding many ideals and values that were once of high importance to our moral codes, however, some have stood the test of time.

Perhaps one of the greatest, yet over-looked practices in life: the simple act of lifting some weights. On a personal level, this practice alone has changed my life to enormous extents. Things I never thought would even be possible for me, have now started to set in motion.

From conquering fear, to achieving inner-peace and attracting all the good things into my circles, weight-lifting has been the pillar of support, the motor, the engine, the backbone to it all. So how does such a simple exercise have such potent impact on one’s daily life? And are the benefits equally available to both men and women? Here is my take…

Energy Transmutation

Coined as “modern day alchemy”, the practice of energy transmutation has proven to yield benefits beyond imagination. Essentially, all life-forms are made up of energy of many forms, from physical to mental, emotional, sexual and spiritual energy.

While all these energies have their place in the world, not all of them should be used in their natural state. The practice of energy transmutation is what truly sets us apart from animals and mother-nature. For example, through sheer willpower, we have the ability to transmute negative thoughts into positive action.

When we feel depressed as a result of something “negative” in our lives, such as losing a loved one or getting fired from a job, the natural, animalistic instinct tells us to embrace the sadness and engage in thoughtless behaviours for a “quick fix”. Such behaviour may include eating junk food, becoming unproductive or complaining to friends and families while moping about the situation.

As humans, we have the intelligence and the history of our own evolution to awaken from these toxic thought patterns. Understanding how these energies work means we can transmute much of our negative energy from other aspects of our lives into something of value. This is where weight-lifting comes into play. The real benefits of lifting weights is not the physical appearance aspect, but the inner joy one experiences. It is one of the easiest forms of energy transmutation as lifting weights is readily available, simply by going to the gym or having something to lift at home. The mere process of exerting your energy to train your muscles to benefit the health of your body and mind is enough to transform most of your inner negative energies accumulated from the natural flaws of the human condition, into a positive driving force of productivity and goal-seeking. When fully mastered, one can experience sorrow and despair simply as excess energy within themselves which can be used to bring about positivity. While lifting weights does not directly bring about all the positive change in the world, it is an essential piece for getting into the practice of transmuting dark, negative energies into positive energy to make your inner light shine.

Testosterone

Going back to the question of: are the benefits of weight-lifting equally available to both men and women? The quick answer is no. While women can benefit greatly from this practice as well, and reap all the benefits of energy transmutation, there is a key factor that makes this particular exercise more beneficial and more important for men.

That factor is testosterone. The fact that men possess more of the testosterone hormone means that they inherently have more untapped energy that needs to be circulated for muscle growth and bone density.

As a result, whether one lifts or does not lift weights will have a far more differential impact on men than for women. Of course, this phenomena has much to do with our previous evolution from cavemen etc, in which men were primarily the hunters and providers for families and societies, thus needing a more durable and capable body to fight against nature.

With many of today’s challenges being more mentally and emotionally challenging, rather than physical, the practice of lifting weights has continued to stand the test of time, especially for men. For the world we live in today, women are experiencing a blossoming period of liberation, as they can now ascend to greater heights and positions of power without having to physically wrestle with men to do so.

While this has downplayed men’s ability to make good use of testosterone energy and undermined the need to be physically strong, the practice of lifting weights has continued to play a vital part for all men seeking self-growth and personal achievement. Through energy transmutation and cultivation of that excess testosterone energy, men who are still lifting weights today are overcoming many of modern day society’s problems, such as depression, anxiety, fear and lack of meaning in life.

My Personal Testimonial

For my own life, lifting weights was the beginning of a tremendous transformation and a key turning point of my life. Throughout my early adult life, I had replicated the image of a typical young man as a product of the modern world. That is to say, I could not find a motivation for myself to do something transformative such as lifting weights, as I did not see its usage in today’s technologically advanced society.

I had always thought that to excel, or to become a “genius”, was achieved through vigorous study at the desk. Without a proper transmutative approach to living, I found myself constantly struggling to get good grades at university, or perform well in job interviews, or even to simply keep it together at social gatherings without getting uncomfortable. Above all else, however, I was unsure of how to take life into my own hands.

Weight-lifting was the catalyst that opened my eyes to the world of energy transmutation. I was almost “lucky” in discovering the benefits of weight-lifting, as it was an activity I had not considered undertaking on my own. One day I was simply asked by a friend of mine to join the gym he trains at as it “will be fun” for us. Feeling that something was lacking in my life, I took him up on the offer, not because I had any knowledge of the benefits of lifting weights that I do now, but simply because I wanted to exert some kind of control of my life by making an out-of-the-ordinary decision. That was the first step to a world of unyielding benefits.

My first day of lifting weights at the gym had a very strange, yet amazing impact on me. For the first time since perhaps my childhood, I felt a strong sense of clarity in my mind, as though I was born to do this. I started to realise how much untapped energy was just sleeping inside of me, waiting to be awakened. This is because by lifting heavy weights, my energy was being directed properly towards something productive.

When I say energy, I am referring to all my body’s energy, negative and positive. Knowing that lifting weights was an outlet for bad energy and a cultivation for good energy, I instantly gained an inner peace simply by possessing this knowledge. Learning how to control negative energy into positive action allowed me to change various aspects of my life from that point forward.

Since that day, I began to apply weight-lifting to my daily routine, and as a result, my clarity to see things for what they truly were had increased dramatically. For example, as I was working in a takeaway store at the time, I would often deal with unpleasant customers.

I could never understand why some of these customers behaved in such a negative manner, and I would often associate their abusive behaviour with who they really were. Since lifting weights and understanding the way our inner energies work, I was able to see these same customers in a different light. Rather than accepting their behaviour, I found I had gained a kind of “divine” insight as to how to deal with them.

The practice of lifting weights and focusing my energy meant I now knew how to direct my efforts in the right places. Thus, I had changed the way I reacted to my unpleasant customers, and would instead focus on the task at hand, that is, receiving their order and making it happen.

I could see that the bad attitudes of some people were never to do with me on a personal level, but rather to do with that person’s own battle with their bad energy. As bad energy attracts other bad energy, each time I am faced with a negative obstacle, there is a temptation, as with all of us, to release our own bad energy to combat it. For example, someone yells at you, so you are provoked to yell back.

For me, I have begun to transcend this kind of worthless battle of human nature. The real battle does not lie in conquering others but conquering ourselves. When someone is upset or angry with me, I search within myself first and foremost to understand why that person is giving off a negative vibe.

For instance, a customer walks into my shop and starts to complain about the prices of our menu items. Instead of telling him to deal with it, as I often would in the past, I would now be more inclined to ask the customer how their day has been. From there, my interactions with customers have yielded far more positive results compared to my pre-weight-lifting days.

To Conclude…

On a final note, it is easy to see how much of a positive impact the simple act of lifting weights can have for all of us, particularly for men. Even if our physical strength is not directly needed in our work lives or our ambitions, the process of transmuting the high-testosterone energy into our own productivity goals is essential.

For men, the amount of sleeping energy is far too high to be transmuted without a physically demanding exertion of energy such as lifting weights. By doing so, we can transmute our lethargic hormonal energy into muscle mass, bone density and clarity of the mind.

Most important of all for men, is our ability to transform our excess negative energy that comes along with the large pool of testosterone from our biological make up, and turn it into an exponential loop of positive energy and a desired outcome. Indeed, lifting weights is of utmost importance for today’s men.